Because it's not a physical pain, more of a mental one. The kind that comes with the self-realization that everyone he loves, everyone he cares about technically 'belongs', so to speak, to the version of him that 'belongs' to this timeline.
"I don't know." There's a strange sense of panic that comes with that, and it's not something he's easily able to get a handle on. Not for the first time, he wishes his dad were here. For the perspective, if not for the calming presence. "Disjointed." Does that even make sense to her? It doesn't make sense to him. "Can I get up? I need to get out..."
That, by far, is the most ridiculous statement. Of course he can't get up, his leg is broken and his back is more than a little damaged.
Disjointed. The realization hits that he carries all of Barry's memories. That, according to him, he was Barry. And for him to hear that everyone else went home with their loved ones must have been jarring. Caitlin puts a firm but gentle hand on his uninjured shoulder.
"You should know that I don't let my patients get up and walk around before I give them the all clear. Your back and leg were broken. You need to rest and heal up," she says in her best doctor voice that did not sound unlike Joe's dad cop voice in tone. This was something she needed to bring up with the rest of Team Flash. What do they do with him? He's not some disposable life. He's someone. They can't give him a new past. His past will always be Barry Allen's. But maybe they could give him a future.
He could nod, agreeing that he did get that, he did understand that. He was hurt, really hurt. Bad enough that even his speed couldn't heal him fast enough. It was good he supposed that Barry Allen, the one that belonged with Iris West and Joe and Wally now in this new iteration of time, wasn't feeling this pain. Wasn't lying here.
Who knew better what a Barry Allen could handle than another Barry?
Satisfied that he'd stay down, Caitlin sits down again with her tablet,
drawing up her e-mail to start the process with establishing an identity
with Felicity. Just to start it and have it all waiting and ready for when
she discusses it with the rest of the team.
"...how do you feel about being called Bart?" she asks.
She receives texts from a few of the others, asking how the remnant is
doing.
"Not...great about it?" He's probably already forgotten, thanks to those drugs, the idea of establishing him his own identity. He's never been fond of 'Bartholomew', so Bart just seems like a harsher version of that.
He does, however, seem to understand who she's talking to. "...does Oliver know what happened?"
She thought she could try as that would be a name that would be close
enough to his own name.
"Iris managed to keep Team Arrow and the Legends updated from within the
Time Vault, actually," she replies, amused at how tenacious her friend is.
"So Oliver knows. What about..." She's interrupted with a message, frowns,
then looks at him. "...as your physician, I think you should wait for
visitors, but Barry wants to see you for himself."
He's honestly surprised the Legends didn't bounce in here and try to fix things themselves. Would anyone have? Probably not.
He looked...well, he looked unnerved at the idea of talking to what was essentially himself. Did he want to? Eventually, he'd have to. Might as well get it over with, whatever the other him had to say. "...okay? Okay."
Caitlin presses her mouth into a thin line and neatly taps on her tablet to
respond to Barry.
"Doctor's orders. You need bed rest and time to recover before talking
about anything." The corner of her mouth quirks up a little. "I will freeze
you to this bed if I need to."
He had, honestly, meant it was fine if she let him come. But. But, he is absolutely fine with her misunderstanding that. He's not really sure he's ready to talk to anyone.
Even if he really, really wants to talk to Joe. Or Cisco. Or Iris.
Her threat, however, gets a slightly amused look from him. "That doesn't seem fair." Or does it? "How long? Will it take, I mean." To recover. The last time he was this bad off was Zoom, and that took...entirely too long.
"A day, at least, for bed rest. I think we should be able to find an older
power chair for you after that if everything looks well enough for you to
sit up for longer periods of time," Caitlin replies. She recalls when Zoom
broke Barry and left him wheelchair bound for a while. "Until then, I'm
afraid you're stuck with me until you're ready to take on visitors."
A slightly amused and tired snort. "It's not like your bad company, Caitlin." He can't think of anyone else he'd rather be helping him. Though. "What about Julian? Isn't he waiting for you?"
That was something she hadn't shared with Team Flash.
"Julian and I aren't seeing each other anymore. We haven't since Savitar
showed up and we needed to concentrate on making sure Iris was safe. He's
much more interested in finding a cure for me and insisting that Frost is
some kind of disease." Something neither of them were big fans of.
That was in fact something he didn't know. He looks concerned, or as best as he can with half his face covered in gauze. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." A slight frown. "Probably doesn't help, the Alchemy...thing."
"Yeah, that was...something I as willing to look over as part of who he
was. It wasn't something that determined who he is and who he could be,"
she explains. "But I guess he didn't see it that way for me." Caitlin gives
him a small smile. "I haven't had a chance to tell everyone yet. But..I
don't think it'll be a big deal."
"His loss." Certainly not Caitlin's. It wasn't like he had ever been fond of Julian. "It's a big deal. You should be with someone who wants you." All of her. Not just the parts that are good.
"It's a little difficult to find people who would be comfortable with both
of us. Let alone accept both of us." Caitlin gives him a small smile.
She glances at something that had been tucked away and was gathering dust.
She sets down her tablet and reaches for it, pulling out the chess board
that she played against Barry when he first got his powers.
"If you're up for it, I believe this means that I can play chess against
you at a normal speed," she teases.
She sets the board aside for a moment and grabs the remote to help elevate
the bed up a little so that he could have some semblance of sitting up.
Caitlin sets the board up carefully on a table between them and lays out
the pieces. She then goes around the bed to his other side to help him
shift a little to not put so much pressure on his spine.
He nodded, settling in as best as he can. "Thanks. I think so." As much as it can feel alright. There's going to be some pain, it just has to be pain he can stand.
She makes her way back around and takes a seat and starts the game.
"No one's really asked me about Julian," she admits, "I think it's because
they're afraid that Frost is going to come out and I'll give them the
literal cold shoulder."
"I guess I have more perspective than that?" After getting his ass handed to him by Savitar, anyway? Apparently so. "Or maybe Iris told them to be cool about it."
That gets a laugh bubbling out of her. And here she thought Snart was the
only one that did cold puns.
"I haven't even told Iris. And she's the one that helped Frost and I get
along." She pauses in her movement. "I guess it just didn't seem all that
important. What with everything going on."
"Maybe you should." A slight frown, as something occurs to him. "Did I...we...I make it seem like it wasn't?" Pronouns are going to be a horror show until these identities are straightened out.
"No. It was a personal choice to not talk about it." She looks at him.
Yeah, pronouns were going to be an important thing to sort out. "We had to
save Iris from Savitar. And we did. I was going to tell everyone
eventually."
Was she? There was a long line of bad taste in men after Ronnie's death.
Jay being the major one. Then Julian. Probably should stay away from men
whose names start with J.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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"I don't know." There's a strange sense of panic that comes with that, and it's not something he's easily able to get a handle on. Not for the first time, he wishes his dad were here. For the perspective, if not for the calming presence. "Disjointed." Does that even make sense to her? It doesn't make sense to him. "Can I get up? I need to get out..."
That, by far, is the most ridiculous statement. Of course he can't get up, his leg is broken and his back is more than a little damaged.
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"You should know that I don't let my patients get up and walk around before I give them the all clear. Your back and leg were broken. You need to rest and heal up," she says in her best doctor voice that did not sound unlike Joe's dad cop voice in tone. This was something she needed to bring up with the rest of Team Flash. What do they do with him? He's not some disposable life. He's someone. They can't give him a new past. His past will always be Barry Allen's. But maybe they could give him a future.
"Doctor's orders," she affirmed.
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Who knew better what a Barry Allen could handle than another Barry?
"Okay. Sorry."
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Satisfied that he'd stay down, Caitlin sits down again with her tablet, drawing up her e-mail to start the process with establishing an identity with Felicity. Just to start it and have it all waiting and ready for when she discusses it with the rest of the team.
"...how do you feel about being called Bart?" she asks.
She receives texts from a few of the others, asking how the remnant is doing.
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He does, however, seem to understand who she's talking to. "...does Oliver know what happened?"
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She thought she could try as that would be a name that would be close enough to his own name.
"Iris managed to keep Team Arrow and the Legends updated from within the Time Vault, actually," she replies, amused at how tenacious her friend is. "So Oliver knows. What about..." She's interrupted with a message, frowns, then looks at him. "...as your physician, I think you should wait for visitors, but Barry wants to see you for himself."
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He looked...well, he looked unnerved at the idea of talking to what was essentially himself. Did he want to? Eventually, he'd have to. Might as well get it over with, whatever the other him had to say. "...okay? Okay."
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Caitlin presses her mouth into a thin line and neatly taps on her tablet to respond to Barry.
"Doctor's orders. You need bed rest and time to recover before talking about anything." The corner of her mouth quirks up a little. "I will freeze you to this bed if I need to."
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Even if he really, really wants to talk to Joe. Or Cisco. Or Iris.
Her threat, however, gets a slightly amused look from him. "That doesn't seem fair." Or does it? "How long? Will it take, I mean." To recover. The last time he was this bad off was Zoom, and that took...entirely too long.
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"A day, at least, for bed rest. I think we should be able to find an older power chair for you after that if everything looks well enough for you to sit up for longer periods of time," Caitlin replies. She recalls when Zoom broke Barry and left him wheelchair bound for a while. "Until then, I'm afraid you're stuck with me until you're ready to take on visitors."
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That was something she hadn't shared with Team Flash.
"Julian and I aren't seeing each other anymore. We haven't since Savitar showed up and we needed to concentrate on making sure Iris was safe. He's much more interested in finding a cure for me and insisting that Frost is some kind of disease." Something neither of them were big fans of.
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"Yeah, that was...something I as willing to look over as part of who he was. It wasn't something that determined who he is and who he could be," she explains. "But I guess he didn't see it that way for me." Caitlin gives him a small smile. "I haven't had a chance to tell everyone yet. But..I don't think it'll be a big deal."
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"It's a little difficult to find people who would be comfortable with both of us. Let alone accept both of us." Caitlin gives him a small smile.
She glances at something that had been tucked away and was gathering dust. She sets down her tablet and reaches for it, pulling out the chess board that she played against Barry when he first got his powers.
"If you're up for it, I believe this means that I can play chess against you at a normal speed," she teases.
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He will absolutely need her help sitting up for it, though. As much as he can, anyway.
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She sets the board aside for a moment and grabs the remote to help elevate the bed up a little so that he could have some semblance of sitting up. Caitlin sets the board up carefully on a table between them and lays out the pieces. She then goes around the bed to his other side to help him shift a little to not put so much pressure on his spine.
"Does that feel all right?"
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She makes her way back around and takes a seat and starts the game.
"No one's really asked me about Julian," she admits, "I think it's because they're afraid that Frost is going to come out and I'll give them the literal cold shoulder."
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Pausing. "Uh. Pun unintended."
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That gets a laugh bubbling out of her. And here she thought Snart was the only one that did cold puns.
"I haven't even told Iris. And she's the one that helped Frost and I get along." She pauses in her movement. "I guess it just didn't seem all that important. What with everything going on."
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"Maybe you should." A slight frown, as something occurs to him. "Did I...we...I make it seem like it wasn't?" Pronouns are going to be a horror show until these identities are straightened out.
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"No. It was a personal choice to not talk about it." She looks at him. Yeah, pronouns were going to be an important thing to sort out. "We had to save Iris from Savitar. And we did. I was going to tell everyone eventually."
Was she? There was a long line of bad taste in men after Ronnie's death. Jay being the major one. Then Julian. Probably should stay away from men whose names start with J.
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